Best Fry hiding place?

[Ponch]

I bought a couple of blue Mickey mouse platies this past week and had them shipped to my house. The young female is huge-pregnant and looks like she is going to pop soon. She and the male I bought are already in my quarantine tank and will stay there for a month before moving to the main display tank.

Original plan was, Once they were in the main tank, to use the Quarantine tank for growing out the fry. But there is no way she is going to not drop fry before QT is over.

So ... since this is off-schedule I've decided best bet for now is to add some more plant cover to the tank and give fry a sporting chance to hide from the adults. Bought some plastic plants today that resemble patches of grass. I could secure to bottom of tank or let it float upside down on top of tank. Which location (top or bottom) would be more natural for the fry?

Thanks

 

[Fishy Aston]

Live Plants are more of a help but long leafed plants with a long steam with go up to the top of the water.

 

[JokerWx13]

i don't suggest live plants unless you have the lighting for it, but they are way more beneficial than plastic plants. i suggest silk plants over plastic because plastic is hard and it can't move, silk is more like real plants. get the bushier ones over the long stemmy ones and you could even let some float cuz some babies instinctivly hang out at the top

 

[Ponch]

i don't suggest live plants unless you have the lighting for it, but they are way more beneficial than plastic plants. i suggest silk plants over plastic because plastic is hard and it can't move, silk is more like real plants. get the bushier ones over the long stemmy ones and you could even let some float cuz some babies instinctivly hang out at the top

yeah live plants would be great but i am not set up for that now.

good to know the fry instinct is to hang out near the surface -- exactly what I was hoping to learn. Thx!

 

[djtypykuhl]

i have to disagree with JokerWx13, i find loads of platy fry hiding in the gravel and decorations. only my molly fry really hang out at the top of the tank, but it wouldnt hurt to secure both locations just to be safe

 

[Davies97]

Why dont u buy a breeding net and put the fry in there i di this and all but 2 of my fry survived

 

[Ponch]

Why dont u buy a breeding net and put the fry in there i di this and all but 2 of my fry survived

Thanks for the tip - I will certainly look into it. What brand of breeder net do you.recommend/use/think is best?

 

[alia258]

The breeder boxes that float are nice, the ones with the v shaped grating is said to be better for fry but the one I have has a flat grating 1" from the bottom of it. As for the plant question, when the babies are born they'll sink to the bottom. Stronger babies will swim to the surface, while the babies that are still tired will rest on the bottom. I suggest having hiding spots on both top and bottom! You could get a couple bunches of anacharis to be the floating plant, they're low light plants and have a very low list of needs. And they'll keep dissolved oxygen in the tank, making it better and easier for the fish to "breathe"

 

[Artist]

If you can get java moss have that on the bottom. You want live plants over plastic or silk. The fry eat little things that grow on live plants. This gives them food when your off at work/school. In my tank I have a breeder net and a tank divider. I put new borns in the net. You get better water flow in a net over a box. I also rig up a little "water pipe" off my hob filter. It's just some plastic that is if the shape of a U. The water comes off the hob and then in to the "pipe" and runs to my breeder net.

Why do this? It changes the water in your net. Breeder boxs and nets don't have great water flow but when you have water flowing right in it helps.

I believe in letting the female have birth in the tank and then scoop out the fry. The key to this is plants every where top bottom middle. I do use some fake plants just to fill in for more hiding.
Tip for sinking plastic plants is use magnets.

 

[aqua_chem]

Java moss will almost literally grow in the dark. It might not be a viable option long term, but short term it will almost definitely stick around long enough for your fry to grow large enough to survive on their own.


Another huge plus is that various bits of detritus will get stuck in the moss. While not necessarily the most visually pleasing, it will provide a food source for the fry to munch on between feedings.

 

[Starka]

I have this fake grass on the bottom of my tank and it works wonders for saving the fry until I can get them in the breeder net. I got at micheal's craft store, which is much cheaper than the lfs.

 

[jetajockey]

You can also use yarn cut like a breeder mop. Lots of things work, but I prefer live plants since they serve multiple purposes.

One other thing that worked well in the past for me was marbles. Not the round kind, but the ones that look like they are squashed . Most pet stores have them in the gravel section, or the crafts section at walmart. They provide a ton of holes for the fry to hide in at the substrate level, but the downside is that lots of detritus gets built up under there as well.

 

[aqua_chem]

You can also use yarn cut like a breeder mop. Lots of things work, but I prefer live plants since they serve multiple purposes.

One other thing that worked well in the past for me was marbles. Not the round kind, but the ones that look like they are squashed . They provide a ton of holes for the fry to hide in at the substrate level, but the downside is that lots of detritus gets built up under there as well.

I've done that with livebearers before. They can accumulate detritus, but they're super convenient to clean too.

 

[HeatherW]

I used the fake plants on the top floating upside down and the fake plants on the bottom. I think a little bit of everything is good. also maybe a tall plant that they can use to swim from top to bottom. it is when they are out in the open that they have problems, so if you can have a hiding place on the bottom close to the tall plant that kinda gives them a "ladder" to the top hiding place I think this will provide them the most security.

my molly fry hid in the top, but my one lone platy fry must have hid on the bottom. saw him at the beginning and then he "dissapeared" for almost a month. I looked and looked and never could find him. truely amazed that he survived. now he is out and swimming with the big boys.

good luck!

 

[Ponch]

If you can get java moss have that on the bottom. You want live plants over plastic or silk. The fry eat little things that grow on live plants. This gives them food when your off at work/school.

That's perfect. Ive heard fry need to be fed 2-3x per day and there is no way I can do that except for very early morning or very late night. Java moss sounding like a great option.

 

[Ponch]

when the babies are born they'll sink to the bottom. Stronger babies will swim to the surface, while the babies that are still tired will rest on the bottom. I suggest having hiding spots on both top and bottom!

good to know. I currently have few hiding spots on bottom of tank. Thinking the javamoss and some other plastic plant decor to fill it out is my best short term bet. As soon as my new platies make it out of quarantine I can move be fry to the qt tank to grow out without fearing for their lives every second of the day!

 

[Ponch]

Java moss will almost literally grow in the dark. It might not be a viable option long term, but short term it will almost definitely stick around long enough for your fry to grow large enough to survive on their own.

Another huge plus is that various bits of detritus will get stuck in the moss. While not necessarily the most visually pleasing, it will provide a food source for the fry to munch on between feedings.

Yeah I need something with little to no maintenance / set up required. Definitely going to try this javamoss stuff and who knows... Maybe this will be the impetus to get into keeping some live plants in the tank! Thanks for the tip!

 

[LyndaB]

I just put java moss at various levels of my tanks and the fry are very happy.

 

[Ponch]

Update After a couple weeks of casually looking I found a somewhat local but over-priced place that carried java moss. So I picked some up and placed it in my tank today. It's not an overly-impressive amount by any means but I hear it grows quick -- which is good because I suspect this young female molly is going to drop sometime this week. This will give a bottom hiding option to complement the top hiding spot made by floating a patch of plastic grass. Hope this works to keep some fry alive - sure would be a cool experience to raise them. Wish me luck.

 

[LyndaB]

Fantastic! Good luck!